Big Deal: Ava DuVernay Becomes First African American Woman To Direct $100 Million Film

Selma director Ava DuVernay is on a roll. Five years following her first indie feature, I Will Follow DuVernay has been tapped by Disney to direct the $100 million film A Wrinkle in Time. She is the first African-American woman to helm a project of this size. She’s also already cast her good friend Oprah Winfrey in the film.

DuVernay is renowned in the film industry for her ability to entrance audiences with her visually captivating scenes, so it comes as no surprise that she was selected to direct the big budget project.

Considering DuVernay’s first film cost $50,000 and her second film, Middle of Nowhere had of budget of $200,000 (according to Women of Hollywood), this is a big budget jump. Her Oscar-nominated civil right biopic, Selma had a budget of $20 million in comparison.

This is totally a glass ceiling breaking moment as female filmmakers and especially women of color filmmakers rarely get these big budget opportunities.

Congrats to the big-money, shot-caller for proving that sometimes talent and perseverance is all you need to change the game.